


5 Ways Jon Snow Finds Out About Arya and Gendry

by vixleonard



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: 5 Times, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Future Fic, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Protective Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 21:19:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18725188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vixleonard/pseuds/vixleonard
Summary: To all seven hells with whose blood runs in his veins or who all she has killed: Arya Stark is Jon Snow's baby sister, and there are some things big brothers just aren't ready to know.





	5 Ways Jon Snow Finds Out About Arya and Gendry

**Author's Note:**

> Show 'verse only, so no book knowledge necessary.

**One**

As Jon stares across the bodies and wreckage from the battle, he wonders how they'll even begin to put things right. This is his home, destroyed and yet somehow still standing, and he wishes for a moment for his father...his uncle...whatever he was, Jon wishes Ned Stark would come sweeping out of the castle and take charge the way he always did. Even now, having somehow won a battle that was impossible to win, Jon does not feel like a Lord or a King or anything more than an exhausted child who nearly lost everyone he loved tonight. He needs an adult, like Ned or Uncle Benjen or even Lord Commander Mormont, to come in and inspire those who are left while Jon sits down and wonders how the hells they'll even begin to fix things.

Sansa, having emerged from the crypts with some of the survivors, doesn't seem to have his uncertainty, directing people to and fro, trying to determine the food stores and where people can sleep. Bran is...Bran, quiet and watching everything. Daenerys gathers some of her Unsullied to bring in Ser Jorah's body from outside the walls, looking well and truly destroyed by her sworn shield's death. It is only then that Jon realizes he hasn't seen Arya since she brought Bran back from the godswood, looking shell-shocked and exhausted.

He gets to his feet, shuffling through the people, wondering what could have happened to his sister. She'd waved off his concerns about the wound on her head, but Jon had seen enough men get hit in the head, claim to be fine, and then pass out hours later from the injury. Sam should look at her head, Jon decides as he walks the quiet halls, and he will throw her over his shoulder and carry her there if she objects. He hears her voice, soft but steady, around a corner, and Jon is already opening his mouth to harangue her into allowing treatment when he stops, shocked.

Arya stands in the circle of Gendry's arms, slightly wincing as the armorer wipes at the drying blood on her forehead. Her hands rest on his hips, and when Gendry starts to say, "The maester - " Arya stretches up on her toes and presses her lips against his for a brief moment.

"I'm fine," Arya assures him, her voice sounding so unlike her, Jon wouldn't believe it was his sister at all if he was not witnessing this. "I'm just glad you're safe."

Gendry smiles, and Jon recognizes that look, has felt the things that make a man smile that way. "You told me not to die. You're a bit scarier than a Night King."

Jon looks away as they kiss again, longer this time, and as he sinks back into the shadows, he wonders when his little sister went from throwing snowballs at boys to kissing men in hallways.

**Two**

"Where's Arya?"

Sansa looks at him with the same expression Jon remembers from his childhood, the one that tells him she is irritated at being expected to be their sister's keeper. "Of everyone in this hall, why would you think I'd know? I've been sitting beside you all night."

"She should be here. She - She's the reason we're here!"

Sansa shrugs. "Arya hates things like this. She always has. She's probably in the yard shooting arrows or practicing with her sword. If she isn't with Brienne, she's probably with the blacksmith."

"The blacksmith? What blacksmith?"

Sansa rolls her eyes. "I don't know, the handsome one, the one she's always with."

"Gendry? Arya's always with Gendry? Why?"

"Oh, Jon." Sansa picks up her wine glass and takes a sip. "She's fine, wherever she is. She killed the Night King. I think she can handle herself at a feast."

But now Jon cannot keep from thinking about Sansa's words and wondering why Arya and Gendry might be spending time together. He likes Gendry, considers him a friend, had even indulged in some childish thoughts about how he and Gendry could be like Ned and Robert someday. As Jon leaves the great hall, he cannot help but think that Robert was supposed to marry his mother, that maybe Starks and Baratheons being friends is just as fated as Baratheons falling in love with Starks.

He finds them tucked into a corner, Gendry seated on a bench, Arya straddling his lap, her hands clasped around his head. Gendry's hands squeeze her ass, meeting her kisses with just as much enthusiasm, and the calm, reasonable part of Jon's brain tells him he should return to the feast and give them their privacy. Arya is a woman grown and one who can certainly handle herself; if she did not want Gendry's kisses, she'd hardly be in his lap submitting to his affections.

But the big brother portion of Jon's brain tells him to steal Arya from Gendry's lap and beat Gendry bloody, which is what he is planning to do until their kiss breaks and Jon hears something he hasn't heard in years.

Arya laughs, soft and breathless, the sound echoed by Gendry, and Jon realizes for the first time since reuniting with his little sister that he hasn't seen her truly _happy_ until this moment.

"If someone finds us, I'm going to be the first man to survive White Walkers and get killed by your family."

"Don't worry. I'll protect you." Arya kisses the bridge of his nose. "I'm pretty handy with a sword."

Feeling like an interloper, Jon slinks back into the shadows, leaving Arya to the happiness she deserves.

**Three**

At first Jon doesn't understand what he's seeing. He's gone into Arya's chamber thousands of times in his life, has slept there himself when Arya was small and demanded he do so, and he's never once hesitated to open her door and make his way inside. That has always been their way, and Jon didn't stop to consider that Arya is a woman grown now, that neither of them are children anymore, that he certainly wouldn't want his little sister to barge into his own chamber without knocking. No, when Arya doesn't show up to her break her fast with everyone, Jon thinks nothing of going in search of her, of flinging open her door and calling, "Out of bed, lazy bones!"

Except Arya isn't sleeping. Or alone. 

The first thing Jon sees are the scars on Arya's bare back and sides. Some are brighter than others, some have healed and thickened, others look as if they were received mere weeks earlier. Next he realizes her hair is down, all of it loose and unbound for the first time since she's been home, and it's wild, a dark cloud around her face and head, having been mussed by sleep and hands. And then Jon realizes Arya is atop someone, her head tossed back, her hands braced against someone's chest, two large, masculine hands grasping her slim hips and moving her to meet his thrusts. In the early morning light, he can see Arya's skin is slick with sweat, and it is something about _that_ , about knowing that Arya has spent so much time in bed with this man this morning that she's had time to work up a sweat, that makes Jon feel absolutely murderous.

It isn't until Arya is scrambling off of her companion, grabbing for the bedclothes to cover her breasts - _and, seven-fucking-hells, when did Arya get breasts?!_ \- that Jon glimpses the panicked face of her lover, and a new wave of rage overcomes Jon, the anger tempered with a sense of betrayal.

"I love her," Gendry manages to get out, trying to get out of the bed while also keeping his cock covered, and it is all he is able to say before Jon springs forward, getting a hand on one of the bedsheets and jerking Gendry towards him. His fist finds Gendry's jaw, sending him back onto the mattress, and Jon knows that Gendry is strong enough from pounding steel that if he was actually trying to fight back, he might be able to give Jon a run for his money, but Jon doesn't think he's been this enraged since that day in the Winterfell yard when he faced off with Ramsay Bolton. Strong or not, Jon knows he will beat Gendry Waters to death for this, for betraying his trust, for violating his little sister.

Jon isn't aware he's shouting, that Arya is shouting as well, that anything is happening other than Gendry trying to hold us his hands to block Jon's blows, and he only stops when he hears Ser Davos bellow, "What the bloody hells is going on in here?!" at the same time the point of Arya's Needle finds its way to the softness at the hollow of his throat. Jon blinks, taking in the sight of Arya, near white as a sheet but hand steady as ever, dwarfed in Gendry's tunic thrown on in haste, Gendry bleeding on her bed, Ser Davos, Tormund, and Sansa in the doorway, all of them looking varying degrees of shocked and, in Tormund's case, amused.

"I love her," Gendry repeats as he slowly sits up, holding the edge of a sheet to his bleeding nose. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you, but I'm not sorry for loving her."

Arya lowers her sword, her grey eyes fixed on Jon's, and Jon wishes he could read her as easily as he used to be able to before they parted, wishes he'd knew what Arya felt about _anything_ , let alone the bastard armorer's apprentice he hadn't even known Arya had met, let alone decided to bed.

"Get dressed," Jon orders. "The great hall. Ten minutes."

It isn't until they have left Arya's room, letting the lovers dress, that Sansa offers, "You know you can't execute him just because Arya took him to bed."

For the first time in his life, Jon doesn't turn down Tormund's offer of mead for breakfast, and he doesn't stop drinking it all day.

**Four**

Jon doesn't like the Red Keep. One of the few comforts of being here is knowing Daenerys is as unfamiliar with the castle as he is, that as often as he gets turned around, so does she. Lord Tyrion knows it, of course, and Lord Varys as well, but when Jon finds himself without Daenerys's councillors, he often has no idea where the hells he's going and Davos is little help. Today he and Daenerys are standing on a balcony in what was once King Robert's and then Queen Cersei's rooms, taking in the sight of the city, when Daenerys asks, "Isn't that your sister?"

Jon knows she must mean Arya as Sansa stayed at Winterfell, but Arya has been near a ghost since returning to King's Landing. She doesn't join them for meals, she appears and disappears without a word, and sometimes she comes back from wherever she was smelling of fire, Blackwater Bay, and what Davos says is Flea Bottom, filthy as can be. Ser Davos likes Arya, calls her an "unknowable woman," and while Jon doesn't disagree with the assessment, it still bothers him to think of Arya as a woman.

The courtyard beneath them leads into the poor excuse for a godswood, and sure enough, there is Arya, dressed in a pair of pants and a tunic as always, her hair pulled half up and held in a bun the way their father once wore it. She is stretched out on a picnic blanket, her legs extended in front of her, her boots and sword belt removed but close enough that she is able to grab them if needed. What surprises Jon the most is Gendry is sitting with her, laughing at something Arya has said, the remnants of their lunch on the blanket between them.

"That's her." He watches as this time Arya laughs, literally throwing her head back to do so, and it makes his heart clench for the girl he remembers, the one who would chase after him and Robb begging to be included. "I didn't realize they were friends."

Daenerys smiles, setting her hand atop his on the railing of the balcony. "It looks as if they are more than just friends, Jon Snow."

Jon opens his mouth to argue that she's wrong, that Arya isn't like other women, that she hasn't fallen in love with his armorer without Jon even noticing, but then Gendry reaches forward, brushing something off of Arya's face with his thumb and Arya moves into the gesture, pressing her face into his hand before twisting her head to press a kiss to the thin skin of Gendry's wrist.

"Oh," is all Jon can manage, dumb struck by what he's seeing.

"Mayhaps House Baratheon and House Stark will unite in marriage after all."

 _But she's just a child_ , Jon wants to object even as he knows it is not true, that it stopped being true a long time ago.

**Five**

"I can't come to King's Landing."

Jon looks up from his battle plans, a smile on his face. "I would think after the Night King, Cersei Lannister wouldn't even make you break a sweat."

Arya manages a weak smile. "It isn't that. I've dreamt of nothing but killing Cersei since the day she stood by and let Ilyn Payne take Father's head. I want to be the one to give her the gift. But I can't."

"Is it because of Sansa? Because she won't be left unprotected here. I wouldn't - "

"No, I know Sansa will be safe here." This time a real smile makes it way to Arya's face. "Even if the world _did_ end, Sansa would still be standing."

Jon grins. "Aye, I think you're right there. But that still doesn't explain why you don't want to come. Don't get me wrong: I would love to keep you out of the fighting and know you're safe, but I know that you'd rather do anything than just sit home and wait."

"I have to stay so I _can_ protect someone, but it isn't..." Arya exhales heavily, taking a seat at Jon's table. 

Concerned, he reaches over, covering her hand with his and squeezing it tight. "What's wrong, Arya? Whatever it is, you can tell me."

"I can't go south because I'm - I'm pregnant."

Jon laughs, surprised that his sister is able to make a joke when so obviously upset. "Aye, me too. Twins no less. It'll be a bit unwieldy when I'm on a dragon, but we must make do."

Arya doesn't crack a smile. "I'm not teasing, Jon. I'm pregnant. Almost three moons. I made Sam confirm it so you'd believe me."

The words sinking in, Jon shakes his head. "Pregnant? Three moons? But that - " He stops, quickly doing the math in his head. "The Battle of Winterfell."

"I didn't know if we were going to live or not. It was impulsive." She stares down at her hands. "It was less impulsive the times after."

Jon struggles not to flinch at the idea of Arya having _any_ times. "So he's - He survived then? He's here?"

Arya nods. 

"Does he plan to wed you?"

"He asked. I said no."

Jon's eyebrows nearly shoot off of his face in surprise. "You don't want to wed him?"

"I don't need to marry him to prove I love him." Reading something on Jon's face, she snaps defensively, "He's a good man! He could have left the second I told him about this, and he didn't. He's got all sort of ideas about doing what's right and proper and treating me like a lady and it's bloody irritating, but I don't need to marry him. And if I _do_ marry him, I'm not going to do it right before he follows you off to war again."

Jon holds up his hand in surrender. "I wouldn't dream of telling you what to do. But you love him?"

Arya nods.

"You want to have this child?"

Arya hesitates for a moment before nodding again. "I could've cast it out," she says when Jon looks at her with a question on his face, "but I couldn't. Cersei...she wanted to wipe out our houses. If I cast it out, it would've felt like I was helping her."

It takes Jon a moment to realize what she said. " _Our_ houses? Who else - " He stops, understanding at once. "Oh. Gendry then?"

The flush on Arya's face tells him more than words ever could. 

"I'll bring him back to you," Jon finally says, "and I'll kill Cersei for you. You have my word on both. You must make me a promise though."

"What's that?"

Jon grins. "You make sure I come home to a healthy niece or nephew, hmm?"

Arya smiles, nods. "You make sure that bitch knows winter came for her."

Several days later as they saddle up to travel south, Jon sidles up to Gendry as he packs his saddles bags. Instantly he knows his friend is nervous, and Jon is glad for it. Though he's had several days to process Arya's news, he is still not certain how he feels about his friend and his baby sister apparently falling in love.

"I promised Arya I'd bring you back to Winterfell safe." 

Gendry looks at him, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"But when we get back here, when you're safe, I'm going to beat the hells out of you for getting my sister pregnant."

To his surprise, Gendry's mouth twitches into a half-smile. "Funny. Arya told me the same thing."

As he swings up into his saddle, Jon decides there are far worst things in the world than having Gendry as a good-brother.


End file.
